The Mother’s Day Episode

🌸 It’s the Mother’s Day episode! Lew and Dad sit down for a chat about how Mother’s Day has changed over the years — from the simpler days of “Mothering Sunday” to the modern version full of flowers, brunch bookings and gift guides everywhere you look. But it’s also a chance to talk about the more emotional side of the day for families going through loss.

💬 Bit of a Natter: What Mother’s Day looked like growing up in the 70s compared to today, whether it’s become too commercialised, and why the day can mean very different things depending on your situation.

🤔 Adam & Eve It: Lew looks at Mother’s Day from another perspective — asking whether schools should run Mother’s Day gift stalls when not every child has a mum at home, and how family situations today are more varied than ever.

🗣 Say It Like Steve: If you’re lucky enough to still have your parents around, make the effort while you can. Dad shares his thoughts on family relationships, communication and why things aren’t always as simple as they seem.

😂 The Bleedin’ Dad Joke: For one week only… Dad reads out a few classic “your mum” jokes, bringing the episode to a slightly chaotic but very funny finish.

It’s an episode with reflection, honesty and the usual Cockney & Son banter, proving that even when the conversation gets serious, there’s always room for a laugh.

🎧 Available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Amazon Music

Follow @CockneyAndSon on Instagram and TikTok for clips, behind-the-scenes laughs and more.

🎧 Cockney & Son: Two Generations, One London

New episodes every week – unfiltered chat, real opinions, and a proper bit of banter between father and son.

Got a question or topic you want my dad’s take on?

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Thanks for listening — if you enjoyed it, give us a follow, leave a rating, and share it with someone who remembers when milk came in bottles.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Cockney and son. Now don't be dafty. We've got proper opinions and plenty of graph. Old school chat with the podcast with stick the kettle on you. Don't wanna miss Cockney and Son to generations in one London.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Cool blame, Governor.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Cockney and Son episode six. Episode six. Do not listen to whatever you did on Instagram this week. You got one job, promote it, and you're promoting episodes from the future that we haven't even recorded yet.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I was in my garden and on my boating lake. Yeah. Did you fall in, hit your head? Making sure that it's all gonna be alright for the summer, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

It's a very special episode this week because we are talking all things Mother's Day. Yes. So let's get right into it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Gore Blimey Governor, it's now time for a bit of a nutter.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Okay, so this Sunday it is Mother's Day. The one day of the year where we get to celebrate mothers and mothering and everything that goes into that. Yes. Obviously, I already know that compared to the 1970s, everything has gone up a notch.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Mother's Day is a big thing now.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah. You know. What was it like back then then?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Well, I don't think you had a Mother's Day back then. You didn't? No, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

We have to Google when did Mother's Day get introduced.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

You should uh people just look to up their mums anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

You know, it used to be called Mother and Sunday, maybe. Yeah. But no, you just treated, you know, and then Clinton cars went, right? How can we make some money?

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Well, yeah, well, it just gets commercialised, isn't it? And you get all like as you teddy bears and it used to be flowers and chocolates, but now you can get all sorts.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

You've got your brunches, yeah, your Sunday dinners, that that'll get booked up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got every gift known to man again. Flowers are gonna go up again. Etched Mother's Day. Yeah, of course. Yeah, but you know, you've got you know, you've got to look after your mum and little kids, breakfast in beds. Yeah. Which is great. So I'm just getting to my point because I'm being all positive and being like, Yeah, oh, it's amazing, it's amazing. But it obviously does highlight a day that's not great for everyone. No, you know what I mean? So that's where it gets a bit funny nowadays. I would say most people nowadays mothers say presents unless you're going to the extreme, which obviously is a competition thing, like everything.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Well, yeah, you're gonna get some you know, you you if you've got you know, if there's a few kids, they might try to outdo each other to get their mum the best present.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, so if actually I didn't think of that, if you're in like say three kids, three siblings, yeah, what did you get, mum? Yeah. What did you get, mum? I remember I don't think it was Mother's Day, it might have been mum's birthday, and this was back at the flat. Yeah, not sure if you were still living there. But remember Philip's room? Yeah, his bedroom window was on the balcony, yeah, sorry. So I think that he must have forgot something. So he must have been old enough to go to the shop, although you used to let us go to the shop, yeah, you know, before nursery by ourselves. So I think he climbed out, but I think where he went to jump out, his foot got caught and he smashed his knee down on on the balcony floor. I don't know, yeah. So that's just a lovely childhood memory that he felt like you had to sneak out to go and buy a card. So let's spin it, and that's how committed he was. Yeah, yeah. Although it probably wasn't Mother's Day. No, probably a birthday. Obviously, Mother's Day for us is slightly difficult because obviously we don't have a mum in this house. So the what we did in previous years was obviously buy stuff for the grandparents. But someone said something very true to me last last year, and I said to Richard, we should definitely do that this year, which going back to what I originally said was it's mothering Sunday. So you don't have to be a mum. No. This is the way I'm gonna go for it this year, is that it's mothering. So obviously, mothering is a term of looking after kids, which there's always one person who does more of the childcare, which is me. So I'm claiming I'm claiming Mother's Day, and it needs to all be about me now. Obviously. Yeah, but also I'll still get a Father's Day present as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, mother in week, will you?

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah. So if anyone out there is in a similar situation to me and Richard, maybe you could approach it as a mother in Sunday. Yeah, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

And the does, I suppose you the the foster mums of that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yeah, yeah, exactly. But what what I'm just saying is like, whereas you know, we didn't want them to feel left out. Oh, of course. Social media, have you seen much about Mother's Day online?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Not really, no.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Moonpig.com.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Oh no, you see, I was you know, you just see you know, adverts on the TV. Yeah. You know, there's some in the papers actually, you know. Yeah. All the supermarkets are doing their bit for the Right.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

The club points, chocolates, chocolate flowers. Flower stalls will be going crazy. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Richard's Day open for your customers.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Do you think that But then you you know what you you Yeah. You know, you still have to do it. Still still do it for the kids to have what their minds about, you know?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

No, no. So do you think that the appreciation for mothers is different nowadays? My mum used to stay at home and do all the cooking, the cleaning, the chimney sweeping, singing with her apron on. I did. As soon as the husband walked in from his nine to five, there was a freshly cooked banger's mash on the table.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

But yeah, that but it's uh a lot of mums are different now, a lot of mum's work, don't they?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Yeah. Maybe that's why Mother's Day was originally created for all of the women stuck at home not being able to go out to work because they weren't allowed to and they weren't allowed to, it's just it was frowned upon if they wanted to have a career. It was, you know. So let's just make give them a special day where they'll probably end up doing the kicking. You know, the the mums were there for the kids and all that. So what are you doing for Mother's Day?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I'm going to the cemetery. Yeah. Well I do it always. Yeah, on Mother's Day. I always go there. Yeah. And yeah, put me flowers.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Yeah. Have a chance. So do you f do you think that's good or bad for you for Mother's Day, being in your situation? Do you think that you could do without Mother's Day being a thing? No, no, not really.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

No, it's it's a thing now, it's it's been around for quite a while. Yeah. You know, because my mum's not about I'm not gonna go, oh that's out of order and all that. No, no, no. No, no, no. No, make it. So I think people, you know, she look after their mum, you know, just on one special day, she look after them all the year round.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Well, whatever you're doing for Mother's Day, and it's all positive. Yeah, treat her nice. Treat her nice, give her treat her all the year round as well. All year round, but especially on Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, give your mum a call and all that and have a little chat. Well, that's the positive done. Yes. Bring on Oh no, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

Here we go. Bring on the rant. Might be causing time to have a little bit of a different point of view. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I don't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Would you?

SPEAKER_00 7:31

I can't believe it. I don't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

So I feel like the last couple of episodes I've basically taken over your rants. Yeah, well, yeah, you've done a good job as well. Thank you. Have you got any trolls? No. Not that I know of. Sometimes I'll get the trolls then, then you don't. I don't look at the website.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Richard looks at the website. I'll send him go and have a look and see if there's anything about dad on there. He'll go, there's a whole few pages. So Adam and Eve, I just thought what we've been positive about Mother's Day, and on the whole, I want it to be a positive situation. But for Adam and Eve, we do get to rant. Okay. So I just want to have a look at Mother's Day from the other side. Yes. And for the reasons that we have gone through as a family recently, obviously Richard lost his mum, and obviously the kids are have been struggling with that. Because, like I said, on Mother's Day we used to focus on the grandparents. And when, as I say, when you're on that side of the positive side, it's it's great. But when you're on the negative side of stuff, you see it from another point of view, and and I don't know if I potentially think that it's right to have it in schools.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah. Yep. Not because of selfish reasons, because it's happened to the kids. But obviously, the initial thing that we did was having the kids focus on the grandparents for a way of getting them through Mother's Day because obviously they're having two dads. Yeah, yeah. But when you think about it, there are probably loads of kids in the school that don't have a dad at home. Yeah. Some that don't have a mum, and some that might not have both because they are living with grandparents for whatever reason. So my my rant is Well they might be in foster care on stuff. Well, yeah, there's loads of different reasons which gives me more, you know, punch from my argument, which is I'm not saying scrap Mother's Day or Father's Day or anything like that. I just don't know if it should be in schools. Yeah, or just primary schools, mainly. I'm talking from they do it in secondary schools? Well, I don't know. We'll know next year. Whenever it's something like that, the school, the kids' school, always puts on like a thing where there's loads of stools where they can bring in like five pounds and they can buy presents. Okay. And obviously this week it was Mother's Day. Yeah. Yeah. So I get why the school do it, because obviously I guess it's a way for them to make money to buy stuff, like the the the mum's group, whether it's called the P-S-Y-G-P-T or whatever it is, yeah. I get it, but there's probably other things that they could do to make money that because obviously, as I say, great for the kids who are going in to buy their mum a present, not great for the kids.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

No, yeah, yeah, quite great.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

So where I'm not where I'm staying, not scrap it completely because these days, yeah. Because then they're going to school, the kids sitting in class, let's just say, and then they go, Right, it's time to go to the Mother's Day store, and they don't they don't have no one to buy it for. Yeah. And I think and I think that is it worth it.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah. What do you think? Yeah, yeah, I could yeah, it's quite a good point, actually. Because it's like, you know, you don't know what how it's affecting that kid at that at the precise moment. Yeah. You know, he's sitting there and then all of a sudden the teacher says, Yeah, let's go to the stalls, and he's naturally thinking, you know, no money on him or something. And he's thinking, you know, yeah, it's a bit of a sad situation.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

No, but but yeah, also about the fact about bringing in money, yeah. Like there's so many, it's so hard nowadays to know when it's still the apple pay, innit? Wait, yeah. What's this what are these hard circles? No. What I'm saying is even like bringing in a fiver, if you ain't got that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? It's such a mindfulness.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

That's right, because there's some kids gonna come in with a fiver, yeah, and some kids ain't gonna come in because they can't afford it. No.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Yeah, it's a bit yeah, it's a bit of a tricky one, that yeah. Because say like the point of it is every kid, so like take the score, and I'm not saying anything bad about the score. No, no, no. I'm just saying I get the whole point of these things is to raise money, but it's like you can bring up to four pounds, it said one pound to four pounds. What they could have done is a non-uniform day, yeah, four quid. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Or whatever. Yeah, yeah. One pound to four pounds. Yeah. If you can give four pounds, great, if you can't. Because they're they probably would have earned more money doing that. So next week we will be going back to your rants, yeah. Because I feel like I've taken them over. No, no, you're doing a good job.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

But I just feel like it was nice that I don't look a bad person.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

No, I just feel like today, with this being the Mother's Day episode, it makes sense to go highlight a situation. So if anyone's listening in in terms of like people that do do that, like organise these things. I'm not saying stop organise these things. No, no, no. And I know that it's very easy and to go, oh, Mother's Day's coming up, we'll do a Mother's Day stall. But you could be a little bit more creative and not and send kids home in tears. So that's my personal view at the moment. It's a very good point. Obviously, last year it was probably completely different. Yes. Because but as life happens, circumstances happen. Yeah, it's true. This Mother's Day, I just gonna try and get through it for Rich and the kid.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah. When we when our mum passed, you know. But a hard one, isn't it? It is a hard one.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

When you're on the other side, it's unfair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Family days. That's very good. You know? Because everyone's got something.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

I know. I know someone who wrote a really good book about that. Yes. It's called My Families and Other Families. Very good book. Did you ever think? On sale now, still. Did you ever think that when you left school? When I left school. Yeah. And your current standard of English, grammar, and punctuation, that you would help create an author.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

No, not at all. No. I think leave school is hard. Yeah, we're gonna get money. We had no money.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

It's now time for a say it like Steve statement. Don't sugarcoat it. Sometimes in life, you just gotta say it like Steve. Right, so your statement is if you're lucky enough to still have your parents around, make the effort while you can.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yes, in some cases, yeah. No, but other cases like some people you don't get all always get all your parents, do you? No. But uh So you're saying don't make the effort. No, no, no, you can make you know, but sometimes you you can make the effort, but you don't get nothing don't get no you don't get nothing back. No. So in the end you just give up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

You know? What is that statement is you don't know what you've got till it's gone. So that yeah. Is there a song? Yeah, so that's it.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah. Is there a song like that? No, but it's it is that's that is a hard one though with with with families and all that, you know. Yeah. Every every case is different. Yeah, of course it is, yeah. You can't just say No, because you've got as you say earlier, if you've got say three kids and you might you too like two of 'em might get on well with your parents and one one don't. Yeah. You know, especially when they get to that rebellion stage. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

So the people that don't have any issues with their parents. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah. What's your advice to them? No, look after 'em, you know. Yeah. But you know, as I mean, they've brought you up and like looked after you and all that. So when they get to a certain age, it's your turn to look after them, if you can. Are you trying to hint trying to hint and get in a bed in this room?

SPEAKER_02 15:11

No. I'm just saying. Well, I will put some just I will contact some stare lift companies.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

But I'm just saying, like, you know, some you know, you get to a certain age and then like families just sort of fade away. Especially from a bit if you're in a big family, yeah, you might not see certain people for years. Yeah. Only at certain, you know, weddings and funerals and stuff, you know. Yeah. Which is but that's life, isn't it? You know, you don't always live close and that's that's life. Can you sing a bit? And then some people can't don't make the effort, do they? Or they don't want to make the effort, or they're too lazy to make the effort.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Although this was a statement, I didn't I didn't intentionally mean for you to go down the negative side to it, which is totally understandable and it it doesn't make sense. It doesn't always work out like that. You're saying that there's some grey areas.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Yeah, d I mean I d I mean myself, don't I? Yeah. With my dad, I mean we didn't have a great relationship. Yeah. You know. Right. But what can you do, you know, Yeah, grey area. If you don't have a wash name, if you don't have a relationship, you don't have a relationship. And then we're you just end up So there's two points. Yeah. Or make the two points. You end up having a goat at each other and all that all the time and what's the point.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Statement was if you're lucky enough to still have your parents around, make the effort, but you're saying, depending on the circumstances.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

No, but it doesn't, yeah, it's it's yeah, it's but it's hard, don't it? Because you go out with your parents and then s some kids get to a certain age and then they just sort of don't want to know their parents. Yeah. You know, but you should it is hard, you should look out with your parents, but it's it's not always the case, is it? No.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

So so that's if you have grey areas where where so then for the people who don't, I would say if you have the chance to do things and you're saying no because you think that you're busy or you think that that's not a priority, like I'm not saying that you should go every day doing stuff. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

But if you are not if you if you if you're going weeks without speaking or or seeing it But I mean this day and age, you don't the I mean this day and age there's so many ways of communication you don't need to like back then it was only telephones or letters or you know if you you know if you lived away from your parents you know I'm just saying if the kids went to university and they lived away, yeah the only way they could contact is a letter or or a phone call. Yeah. But this day and age you've got I'm sorry, I'm got who in our family has been to university. No, I'm not saying our family, I'm just saying people that's whose kids go to university, yeah. They you know back then it was only the phone or a letter. Yeah. You know, or they used to they used to send you packages and all that. This day and age, yeah you've got so many different communication ways. Yeah. There's no really excuse, is there?

SPEAKER_02 18:01

No. So what you're saying is nowadays there shouldn't really there's too many ways to to communicate with people that there shouldn't really be an excuse.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Yeah, there's no excuses not to contract your shit like certain if you're getting on with them. Yeah. If you don't then you don't. I mean there's no way you know you can't there's there's you can't no one could say I can't I no, I didn't talk to my mum's day because but there's no reason because like most people now, even elderly people have got telephones. So You've got one. I've got one. So you get a text or you get a WhatsApp or you get a call or you get a voicemail, you know, email.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Everything How's that necklace thing that you've got with the big red button that you wear at home now?

SPEAKER_01 18:46

I've pressed it a couple of times by mistake, thinking it was a spot.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Deactivated it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Four emulses turned up.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

But obviously I will know from you know, the situation, as I mentioned earlier, for ri for Richard, I think that he sees people not talking about his their parents and stuff like that in ways that he's like, Oh, I wish I could just and that's what I meant.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

That like you don't know it's gonna it's gonna be hard for Richard, it's gonna be the first one. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

It's always the oldest one. So that's what I'm saying is you don't know what it's like into in that situation.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Well my mum's been gone what fifty years, I'll still go, I'll go every three times a year to the cemetery. Yeah. And uh yeah, you do I it's something I'll do, something I wanna do, and I'll yeah or what I can do, I'll we'll keep on doing it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

You know, well, I can push you. Not in a wheelchair, I'll just push you along the road. Because you should have your new knees.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Well leave you there.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Yeah. Right, so this episode, sum this episode up, because we're gonna go to a fun place now that you're unprepared for, and I love it. Okay. Okay, so to sum this up, if you're lucky enough to be able to spend the time with your mother, then go do it. If there's great areas and you're listening to this podcast and you're in a great area, think about is that an actual issue that you can't be resolved? Yeah. Because you don't know what you've got until it's gone. There we go. So now moving on for a little bit of a laugh.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Get ready to laugh.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

It's now time for the bleeding dad joke. So the bleeding dad joke, normally, yeah, we both have two jokes, we go head to head and we try and make each other laugh, and then we decide who was the funniest. Yes. However, for one week only, yeah, I've got some jokes. Jokes. I've got some jokes here, but I want you to read them out. Okay? You want me to read them out. Read them out. There's four, and keeping in theme of today's episode, which is Mother's Day, yeah, I'm gonna give you two options. So back in the day in the school, I don't know if it was the nineties, there was quite a lot of your mama or your mum jokes, yeah. Yes, I know that which perk, they can't be done to my children, yeah. So you have the choice, because you're gonna read out four jokes, you have the choice to start them with your mum or your mama. Yeah. And don't take offence to it, because we all did it back in the day, your mum jokes.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Your mum.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

So I've got four here that I'm quite some of them are really good though.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yeah, but I think they would be funnier if you said them all.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Go. Are you choosing your mum or your mama? Why don't I do two? Two of each. Okay, don't make the noise on the page.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Right. Right. Your mum is so fat she walked past the TV and I miss three episodes.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Wait, can you do the next one so your alternate is? Yeah. But you have to say that your mama Yeah. Right, ready? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Your mama's so stupid. When she said it was chilly outside, she grabbed a bowl. What are you laughing for? I just read the third one. I just read the third one. Right. Your mum's so stupid she stared at a carton of apple juice for twelve hours because it's too concentrated. What? Your mumma's so fat she can't even jump to a conclusion.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Sounds good. That's very good. I'm gonna replay that for years. Um so obviously we have to cover our backs. Do not start saying bad jokes against everyone's mum because we've obviously phased that out. Yeah. Obviously, your mama. Yeah, your mama. Your mama, yeah. The one I that always comes to my mind was I saw your mum kicking a can. I saw your mum kicking a can down the road. I said, What you do is she said, Moving the house.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

One of the best ones I thought. Well used to do the youth club, he said. And when she fell down the stairs, I thought each enders was finishing.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Terrible. I'm glad that we've matured as well. Exactly. So that's it for episode six, the Mother's Day episode. We had some reality, some empathy, some emotions, and obviously ended it with your mama jokes. So it was a bit of everything today. But thanks for listening. Let us know your thoughts and if you've got any advice.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

What episode is this? So when I go.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

You don't even know what it did. That's it for this week's Cockney and Sun. If you had a laugh, hit follow or subscribe, whatever buttons in front of you. Leave us a review if you're feeling fancy, and don't forget to share with someone who loves a bit of a moan. We're on Instagram and TikTok at Cockney and Sun, so come say hello. Thanks again if you've made it this far, and until next time, cheers from the old man and the not so young one.